ORTOM'S ADVISER CONDEMNS ATTACK ON SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVIST

The Special Adviser to Benue State Governor on Media and ICT, Mr Tahav Agerzua, has condemned last night's attack on Mr. Armstrong Iorwase Msugh Chir, a social media activist, by persons suspected to be sponsored political thugs.He has also conveyed the Governor’s directive to security agents to track and apprehend those responsible for the act which he described as reprehensible and condemnable.Mr Agerzua, in a statement, noted that the brutality of the attack which resulted in a fracture on one of the legs of the victim one week after his father was laid to rest and while he was still mourning underscored the heartlessness of the attackers and their sponsors.The adviser stated that Governor Ortom abhorred violence in all its ramifications and noted that he won the 2015 elections without resorting to thugs or violence.Mr Agerzua said Governor Ortom was determined to eliminate thuggery and violence and their use to achieve political objectives in the state.He described those who use such means as discredited politicians who have lost the support of the people and the ability to engage decently in discourse hence their intolerance towards differing opinions.According to him, the use of force to counter intellectual engagements was a demonstration of lack of cerebral capacity and an unacceptable conduct which had no place in a democratic dispensation that cherished plurality of ideas and opinions.He said the Governor has endured all manner of campaigns of calumny, falsehood, and deliberate character assassination without directing anyone to physically attack the perpetrators of such pledging that the state government would support security agencies to get to the root of the matter.The adviser however, appealed for restraint in the face of what he described as unwarranted provocation and assured that the culprits would be traced and brought to book.